Startup accelerator
Startup accelerators, also known as seed accelerators, are fixed-term, cohort-based programs, that include mentorship and educational components, and culminate in a public pitch event or demo day.[1] While traditional business incubators are often government-funded, generally take no equity, and rarely provide funding, accelerators can be either privately or publicly funded and cover a wide range of industries.[2] Unlike business incubators, the application process for seed accelerators is open to anyone, but is highly competitive.[3] There are specific accelerators, such as corporate accelerators, which are often subsidiaries or programs of larger corporations that act like seed accelerators.[4]
History[edit]
The first seed accelerator was Y Combinator, started in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2005, and then later moved to Silicon Valley by Paul Graham.[3] It was followed by TechStars (in 2006), Seedcamp (in 2007), AngelPad (in 2010), Startupbootcamp (in 2010), Tech Wildcatters (in 2011), several accelerators of SOSV, Boomtown Boulder (in 2014) and Antler (in 2017).[12]
In Europe, the first accelerator program was started by Accelerace in 2009 in Denmark (strongly subsidised by the Danish government) followed shortly after by Startup Wise Guys in 2012 in Estonia.
With the growing popularity of seed accelerator programs in the US, Europe has seen an increase in accelerators to support a growing startup ecosystem.[13]
Forbes published an analysis of startup accelerators in April 2012.[14] Since 2010 there has been a substantial growth of Corporate Accelerator programs, which are sponsored by established organizations but follow similar principles.[15]
Impact[edit]
Whether accelerators increase the success of accelerated firms is not always clear. A number of studies have shown that accelerated cohorts perform better than non-accelerated firms, but this is potentially due to the selection effect of programmes (i.e., the accelerators might be good at 'picking winners' rather than creating them). However, studies using regression discontinuity design show that accelerators can indeed have impact over and above their selection effect, and may also have wider ecosystem spillovers (although this does not necessarily apply to every program).[16]